Description

Angling Club Lax-a is Iceland’s largest sporting outfitter by far, with over 40 salmon rivers/beats exclusively leased. Founded in 1987, Lax-a has been under the same management for nearly 25 years and still retains the same core values as in the beginning; to provide quality, both in terms of fishing as well as other services.

Member Reviews

Arctic char in a true wilderness

by Traveldoc | Overall Rating:

Jul 25, 2016

Recently spent a week at the Lax-a camp in Southern Greenland flying into Narsaarsuq. Exclusively fly fishing for arctic char in the 2-6 lb range on light tackle, these fish fight harder than salmon once hooked! Hit the migration of these fish just right at the beginning of July, an...

Greenland Arctic Char

by ike759 | Overall Rating:

Jul 20, 2016

Spent a week recently at the Lax-Angling Club-Greenland camp fishing for Arctic Char. Fishing was excellent for 2-5 lb fish. Larger fish spotted but not caught. Camp was immaculate and comfortable with heat in cabins. Staff were really great and made us feel like family. Food was excellent with plenty...

Request Booking/Information

Call today (802) 347- 4550 or fill out the form below to plan your next fishing adventure:

Name

FirstLast

Email*

Phone

How can we help?

Request Information

Check Availability

Date

How many days?

How many anglers?

Please Provide Additional Information As Needed*

Destinations

Full Service Iceland Atlantic Salmon Packages

East Ranga River

East Rangá is one of the best known salmon river in Iceland. It is located in the South of Iceland and between the towns of Hella and Hvolsvollur, in about 70 min drive from Reykjavik. The river has been number one or two for the last 10 years in the number of salmon caught in Iceland. This has made East Rangá one of the most populare salmon river in Iceland.

The beautiful river is fished with a double handed rod and is easily accessible for most anglers, no advanced wading is required. East Rangá has a very loyal clientele who fish the river every year, but it is also quite populare amongst beguinners, families and corporate groups.

Fishing is on eight beats over a 22 km stretch of river offering a nice variety of waters and lots of space.

The river and its suroundings is beautiful and gives anglers energy and feeds their soul. Mountain Hekla, the legendary volcano, is in plain view and gives good energy to everyone around it.

NUMBER OF SALMON CAUGHT PER WEEK

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

4-11/7

24

209

72

140

71

181

90

42

49

11-17/7

81

246

166

389

80

241

184

118

111

18-24/7

350

311

275

466

322

246

207

203

130

25-31/7

692

771

318

492

342

522

525

195

224

01-08/8

783

1269

411

433

729

486

563

319

349

08-14/8

758

856

714

746

718

95

653

429

553

15-21/8

955

893

461

704

549

162

504

302

499

22-28/8

517

540

409

910

400

230

338

162

194

29/8-4/9

538

504

387

451

345

157

466

40

228

West Ranga River

West Rangá, is one of the best known salmon river in Iceland. Not only for its beauty and great variety of fishing pools, but also for the high volume of salmon caught there every year. West Rangá usually ends as the most productive salmon river in Iceland.

Stability is why the West Rangá produces such high numbers of salmon per rod/day. It is never low in water. It is seldom, if ever coloured due to flooding and heavy rains. The only enemy could be high winds, but there is always the opposite bank….right?

The headwaters of West Rangá are near the foot of the spectacular Mt. Hekla, one of the country’s active volcanoes. This entirely spring-fed source is responsible for both the consistent water temperature and flow.

WEEKLY CATCH

Week

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

W. 27

17

14

42

70

22

38

53

7

102

W. 28

30

24

187

168

40

102

55

23

293

W. 29

111

194

290

288

89

212

115

31

457

W. 30

240

387

527

464

215

249

293

128

726

W. 31

326

626

656

546

355

334

331

155

730

W. 32

502

812

1004

575

471

457

470

190

833

W. 33

549

1287

891

525

519

461

548

309

926

W. 34

558

1314

912

481

449

384

636

303

735

W. 35

1053

1333

944

467

492

351

605

307

722

W. 36

667

1257

1416

868

738

344

537

265

978

W. 37

558

1270

965

488

465

575

727

168

601

W. 38

357

1122

713

248

269

186

256

188

544

W. 39

395

710

518

171

266

194

195

379

357

W. 40

157

477

445

99

211

235

299

218

297

W. 41

144

640

306

129

218

130

110

114

190

W. 42

544

251

285

68

53

35

70

120

205

Blanda – Beat 1

Blanda is one of Iceland’s longest and most powerful rivers and is known for her powerful and big salmon, it’s divided into 4 beats and has one major tributary, Svartá.
Beat 1 is a relatively short beat that holds 4 rods, 2 on each bank. The beat opens in early July and leads the charts throughout June and sometimes July as well in salmons caught per rod. In recent years Blanda has gone from strength to strength, especially beat 1, in 2013 2611 salmon were caught and in 2011 they were 2032 on Blanda river – far most of that were caught on beat number 1. It should be kept in mind that beat 1 is usually only fished for about 60 days. Needless to say beat 1 is the most productive beat of the river.

Not only are these numbers extremely high, bordering on the ridiculous, but the ratio of multi-winter salmon/grilse was over 40% in 2010. On average the mws/grilse ratio is around 36 – 39% throughout the summer and up to 100% in June. It’s also worth mentioning that the salmon in Blanda is 100% from natural stock, there has never been need for any assistance for the Blanda salmon.

Blanda is an early season river, opening on June 5th every year and with the absolute prime being from late June until late July. For those looking for a serious fight with serious salmon, June is the right time. The salmon are fewer in June – but they are nearly all multi-winter fish, it’s only in late June that the grilse start arriving. As stated before, Blanda is a large volume river, no drought problems here, but this also means hard currents that a hooked salmon will use to its advantage. Every summer we hear stories from anglers that hooked a monster salmon, but never really stood a chance of landing it. Fortunately, we also hear from those who manage to get them on the bank as well.

Blanda is often described as “the crazy river” by those who visit her, not because she’s dangerous – but because all of her salmon seem to be insane. Even the grilse will drag you back and forth as you try to land them.

Other rivers near Blanda include Svartá, Laxá in Asum and Hallá – all within an hour’s drive (some of them just minutes away). An ideal combination would be with Svartá also known for big salmon. Blanda is an ideal destination for those who are looking for serious salmon fishing, both in regards to the size of each salmon and in regards to the quantity of salmon caught.

Blanda – Beat 3

Beat 3 in Blanda is in many ways similar to beat 2 but has slightly less volume of water (the tributary Svartá converges with Blanda between beats 2 and 3) especially the lower part of the beat. The upper part of beat 3 is more demanding, there the river runs through a canyon and pools are more diverse. Most of the best pools are accessible by car (4×4) but there are some that require a bit of walking. As with beat 2, beat 3 is not known for the volume of salmon but the size and strength. Annual catches range from 100 – 200 salmon with a steady increase in recent years.

Blanda is a glacial river and even though it has changed drastically, due to the hydro-electric power plant situated at the top of the river, the water is rarely gin-clear. But during June, July and the beginning of August the water is relatively clear. Most of the glacial silt sinks to the bottom of the reservoir before the water is channeled through the turbines at Blanda power station. This means that the visibility below the surface is measured in yards, so more than enough to fish. In mid- and late August the water usually becomes gradually darker until it becomes virtually unfishable. Even though most local anglers curse this every year, the side effect is that this way the river automatically protects its stock of salmon.

Blanda also holds a good deal of brown trout, sea trout and arctic char as well as salmon. As stated before it’s a large beat in a big river, so hiring a guide – at least for one or two days – is a very good idea. The best flies/tubes for this beat are; Red Frances & Black Frances, German Snaelda, SunRay Shadow, Black Sheep and Silver Sheep. Although heavy tubes (¼ – 1,5 inch) brass or cone heads are very effective some lighter variations should also be brought along (aluminum and plastic tubes) as well as regular flies and hitch tubes. Bring strong leaders, everything under 12 pounds breaking strength is considered a trout leader in Blanda.

Blanda – Beat 4

Blanda Beat 4 is for sure the best kept salmon secret in Iceland , beautiful little river gin clear and you can see the salmon in most places. Beat IV is actually not the Blanda river , it is a small tributary of the Blanda river about 40km from the sea. How to describe it ….. I would say .. like the Austura on Midfjardara, Upper Kjarra , Upper Nordura , small sensitive … floating line riffling hitch , thin leader.

Beat IV has been extremely popular among anglers and it has been difficult to secure rods. There is a nice self catering lodge by the river with four bedrooms, kitchen, dining room and a sitting room.

Norðurá

Norðurá is commonly named as “fegurst áa” in Icelandic that translates to: “the most beautiful river”. In Iceland we have many hundred salmon rivers and all of them are beautiful in their own way. To be commonly accepted as the most beautiful river says something about the beauty and the diversity of Norðurá.

Not only is Norðurá beautiful but the fishing in the river is also plentiful. Norðurá has always been one of Iceland’s best rivers with an average catch of 1570 salmon. In 2015 2886 salmon were caught in the river.

Norðurá runs through the Borgarfjörður region and is only slightly over an hour’s drive from Reykjavik. The river is slightly over medium in size but generally very accessible and easy to fish. Early in the season double handed rods might come in handy but later in the summer a single handed rod is optimal. Norðurá has some 150 recognized pools in an area that cover 65km. The river is fished with 14 rods with eight to twelve of them on the main beat depending on the time of the season. There is a separate beat on the river – Norðurá 2 which has three rods and a self-catering cottage.

Laxá in Aðaladalur

Laxá in Aðaladalur is not only known for BIG fish, the scenery is absolutely beautiful as well. The river is large compared to most in Iceland and is best fished with a double handed rod. A boat is even necessary in some instances which is unique in Iceland.

The beat we can offer is one of the best beats – the famous Nes beat.

And big rivers provide big fish; no river in Iceland produces more salmon in the twenty plus pound range than Laxá in Aðaldalur. The river even has its own club called „the twenty pound club „and each year many new members are admitted on the banks of Laxá.

Langá

Langá is one of Iceland’s top rivers with an average catch of 2000 salmons per year;It is renowned for its beauty and is a fly fisherman’s paradise. In all the river has 93 named pools so there is plenty of space for the 12 rods that fish the river. Langá is medium in size and gin clear, the river is perfectly suited for light gear, small flies and hitch.

Number of salmons caught per year in river Langá:

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

1463 2970 2254 2235 1934 1098 2815 595 2616

Langá was one of the first rivers that the British leased in Iceland so the river has a tradition of fly fishing dating back to early 19th century. In fact it was an English lady by the name of; „ Walterina Favoretta Kennard“ that leased the river from early in the 19th century all the way until she was forced to abandon it when world war II started and most of her clients had to report for duty. Mrs. Kennard and the gentlemen she catered for loved the river and so will you.

When Mrs. Kennard leased the river there were several large waterfalls that hampered the fish from migrating up stream until later in the season when water levels were lower. But since 1962 there have been built five fish ladders in the river to ensure the salmon has clearer passage up stream. With the constructions of the ladders and other improvements the fishable area of the river has increased from 13 to 26 km. The river also benefits from reservoir in Lake Langárvatn so the river hardly ever suffers from lack of water.

Haukadalsa

Haukadalsa is a medium sized river with over 40 marked pools. The river covers 8 km from river mouth to the top; many pools are long with riffles which create natural barriers for the salmon on his way to the top.

The plentiful and long gin clear pools in the river provide a great view of the salmon waiting for your riffle hitch to skate over them. And the river and surroundings are breathtakingly beautiful as well, which you will notice if you can take your eyes of the salmon in pool!

One of the biggest advantages of the river is easy accessibility which means you can easily reach each pool on beats 2-5 on foot.

The river is fished with five rods on five beats with one rod on each beat at a time. The 11 year average for the river is 722 salmon caught, that makes it over 1, 6 salmon caught. Haukadalsá rarely gets hit with low water due to the reservoir in the lake at the top which ensures that water levels remain steady.

Svartá

Svartá is an amazing 4 rod salmon river. The gin clear river is located in North West Iceland and is a tributary to the Blanda river.
The Svartá river is one of the country’s best-kept angling secrets for Salmon, a fly only river with great number of good pools. The river has a large number of loyal customers fishing there year after year. . Situated in the northern highlands. The river offers over 25 km of gin clear gorgeous salmon fly water, set in a magnificent scenery. Around every corner there is a new challenge. Fishing pressure has always been light as the river has never been marketed to foreign anglers. Average weight of the salmon is around 8 lbs. mark and they are caught up to and over 20 lbs. Make note that all salmon over 70 cm must be released.

Only four rods share the exclusive fishing right for over 25 km of water. The Svartá river is fly only, great for floating line and riffling hitch.
Accommodation is offered in a comfortable lodge with Jacuzzi. Best time is mid/late July until the mid September.

WEEKLY CATCH

WEEK

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

W. 26

36

7

.

.

.

W. 27

40

19

11

8

.

6

W. 28

40

25

29

22

9

19

W.29

44

17

7

52

23

41

W.30

77

46

15

55

52

54

W.31

78

47

5

40

37

103

W.32

72

31

17

24

34

72

W.33

30

20

14

41

33

101

W.34

34

31

7

36

35

64

W.35

52

20

11

23

21

36

W.36

30

12

10

26

9

70

W.37

8

13

11

24

34

15

W.38

14

7

8

15

26

29

W.39

17

5

13

.

4

19

If anglers prefer full service lodge then they are welcome to stay at the new Blanda lodge for full board and lodging, only few minutes to drive. It is a great idea to combine Svarta 4 rods together with 3 rods at beat number 4 at the Blanda river.

Since Lax-á took over the river, we’ve turned into a fly-only river and we are now introducing a mandatory release of all salmon over 70 cm in length. Annual catches have been on a steady rise since we started these conservation efforts, in 2009 430 salmon were caught and in 2010 those numbers had climbed to 560 salmon – with the ratio of multi-winter salmon above 50%! We are certain that we will be seeing these figures rising even higher in the years to come.

Self Service Atlantic Salmon Packages:

Blanda II

Deildará

Hallá

Hvannadalsá

Langadalsá

Leirvogsá

Miðdalsá

Sog Asgard

Stóra Laxá I&II

Stóra Laxá III

Stóra Laxá IV

Svartá

Tungufljót

Iceland Trout Packages

Tungufljot

Lax-á team is proud to offer this trout fishing beat to all of our enthusiastic anglers aching for big trout. The trout beat of Tungufljot is rather new to us here in Lax-a but for the past 2 years we have been researching the river with good success. The trout beat is a combination of 3 small rivers running into one big one..

As you know the brown trout can be difficult to catch since he is quite aware when the fly hits the surface. The river is quite big so there are many different pools to try out, some are long and deep stretches, others just small mirror pools in a roundabout..

And thats one of the hidden secrets of this river, it has so many pools to fish that you almost never fish the same pool more then once in 3 days, unless of course it´s packed with good sized fish..

The best method to fish the river is to walk upstream and fallow rising fish, the size of the fish in the Tungufljot river indicates that there is a good variety of food around in the river system as well as there is a lot of spots with hot water running in from underground, always hot spots for the fishing..

Best time to go to Tungufljot is June – July and August, but in may and September you can always get fish as well. We operate many summerhouses in the area that are suitable for 2-4 anglers at a time, they are self catering, fully equipped with linen and a nice Jacuzzi to relax in after a hard day fishing the river.

Sog Asgardur

The river Sog is well known among anglers for both the salmon fishing and the char fishing, the Asgard beat offers both very good char/trout fishing and a very good lodge. The freshwater char can grow up to sizes of 10 pounds. In addition to the char, brown trout and sea-trout are also caught.

The prime time for trout is in early spring (April – June). Even though the char is extremely tasty (probably the best freshwater fish for eating), and there are no formal restrictions or quotas, we kindly ask that our anglers release the char as much as they can.

It only takes about 45 minutes to drive to the river from Reykjavik, so it is ideal for short day-trips as well a longer tours. Guiding and all gear&tackle can easily be arranged upon request.

Varmá

Varmá is one of the top sea trout rivers in Iceland. Vastly underrated, a very, very good river and easy to fish. Varmá is a 6-rod river blessed with a very long season or from 1st April until mid October. By the end of May, good runs of sea trout are coming into, and also leaving, Varmá. With all these comings and goings, the prime time is from the end of June until the end of the season mid October, which puts it on par with the Litlaá up north. Good numbers of hard fighting Artic Char, as well as the occasional salmon, are also taken on the Varmá river.

The sea trout range in size from 3 to 12 pounds with a few larger ones landed each season. The char are a different matter, they are commonly 2 to 4 pounds, yet, on the downstream beats there were some awesome monsters this season, we even had char up to 14 pounds landed!

There are several good accommodation options by Varmá, please take a look at the accommodation.

Varmá runs through the village of Hveragerði, which is in itself a highly interesting little settlement and worth looking at. It is built around the greenhouses that the geothermal hot water makes possible. Walk into the greenhouses, many of which are resturaunts and shops as well, it is like walking into the rain forest. Hveragerði is a great tourist attraction and very popular “sunday drive” destination for hundreds of locals.

Þingvellir Monster Trout

Lax-A proudly offers licenses for the monster trophy trout in Lake Þingvallavatn. The brown trout in Þingvellir is totally unique to the world with recorded sizes over 30 pound caught each year, fish around the 10 pound mark are common. All catch is strictly catch and release. The lake itself and the surroundings are absolutely beautiful; Þingvallavatn is Iceland’s largest natural lake with crystal clear water enabling the fisherman when conditions are good to spot the fish.

For the summer of 2017 we introduce a very special package in lake Þingvallavatn – a trophy trout safari. We have teamed up with an expert guide which will lead you to the fish and in our beats they are fewer but LARGE.

This is a good chance to catch that Trophy trout of a lifetime.

Litlaá

Litlá, meaning “small river” which is slightly decieving as while it is not a big river, it certainly is not a small one either.This is a remarkeble river and holds one of Iceland´s strongest and fittest, sea-run brown trout stock there is, as well as some sea-run char and occasioanally salmon..This beautiful, fresh water river, runs through a plain from Skjálftavatn lake which was formed in the volcanic eruption of Krafla in 1979..

Before that, the lake and of course the river itself did not exist..As the area is a known geothermal area, the average temperature of the water is around 12°C, and even reaches up to 20°C around the hottest springs in Brunnur, below Keldunes, and that´s one of the rivers x-factor since you can fish there almost 7 months per year.. It gets cooler further down towards the mouth of the river but it does not drop below 9°C and therefor the river almost never freezes over in the winter months. These conditions make Litlá unique as it makes the standard weight of the trout utterly incredible and higher than in most trout rivers in Iceland..

Anglers fishing in the river mouth, sometimes that can be a hot spot for new seatrout ranging amazing size..

Researchers have been looking at Litlaá and found out, that due to the warm water, the river rears massive hoards of sticklebacks that the brown trout feast on the whole year in andyear out..

Some of them are so fat that you wonder how they can even move, let alone follow and grab a fly. But they do, oh yes they do and in no uncertain way! This seasons biggest sea trout was caught during the spring, a monstrous specimen of 23 pounds..

There are bigger trout in the river now then ever before bacause during past seasons the fishing methood of catch and realease has become more and more popular amongst anglers fishing the river. These monstress trouts, they seem to come a live every day during the season and grab a fly, only to shake their heads and chop the leader like a strip of thread..

In a few sea trout rivers in Iceland spring fishing is allowed, yet in some quarters the spring fishing is a bit controversial as anglers are then catching the trout on their way back to sea after they have stayed in the river over the winter. In all the rivers except Litlaá the spawners are thin and really need to get back to their ocean feeding grounds and should be released so they can do so..

Due to the warm waters of Litlaá, this is not a problem and the springers are as fat as the fish running from the sea. In fact the springers are in no hurry out of the river and many stay well into the summer, the prime season on the river thus being longer than usuall for an Icelandic sea trout river. This should be kept in mind..

Five rods are permitted on Litlá´s 6 beats.

A review from a customer:

I wanted to write you a quick note to thank you for putting together such a lovely trip for me and Jonathan Reeves. Not only was the fishing terrific, but we thoroughly enjoyed the accommodations, food, and especially your wonderful country. Our guide, Denni, really made sure our experience was tremendous. He went out of his way to enlighten us on the history and sites in Iceland and of course, made certain that we were in the best possible fishing beats. He spent a great deal of time teaching both of us the finer points of fly fishing. I am a novice and Jon is quite experienced but both of us learned from Denni. We have already talked about coming back!

Thank you again for helping put this together and I have attached some photos of our experience.”

Kind regards,

Betsy Gilbert

Tungufljot Sea Trout

Tungufljot is a medium sized river in South Iceland. The river is one of Iceland ´s best River for sea – trout.

The river is one of Iceland’s absolute best sea trout rivers, with elusive huge trout lurking under the surface. Every year sea- trout close to the 20 pound mark are caught. The trout in the river has ample fighting space which it uses to its benefit. Pound for pound this is one of the fiercest fighting fish in the world. They will make your reel sing and snap your line like a thread if you do not come well prepared.

Prime time is early spring when the Sea Trout return to sea and in September / October when they arrive back in the river after a summer feeding in the ocean.

The sea trout in Tungufljot 100% from natural stock, you will be hard pressed to find a better river for the sea-trout in the world. Some salmon is caught in the river and there is a stock of arctic char as well. If you are lucky you could catch three species in the same trip.

Greenland Arctic Char Fishing

Greenland is the wildest place on earth for char fishing. There are thousands of rivers and lakes, full of Arctic Char. Because of the enormous territory and relatively few inhabitants, many of these fishing areas are hardly fished at all and some rivers have not seen an angler – ever.
The fishing is on a voluntary catch and release basis, mostly light tackle fishing. The size of the fish is 1-7 lbs + and there is plenty of it. The local guides are excellent and know the area extremely well. The river mouths are often very productive when the char runs up the rivers. The lakes that are connected to the ocean, by clear rivers, provide the best fishing but the fjords are also extremely productive in the early part of the season. Char start to gather in the fjords near the river mouths in the end of June and begin to move into the rivers in the beginning of July. This abundance of Arctic char – and the magnificent nature, truly makes this a fishing paradise!